This thesis explores the relationship between assessment techniques and reporting procedures in early childhood settings. Discrepancies between curriculum being presented and skills and progress being reported are examined. The curriculum used in this study is Portland Public Schools' Piaget Curriculum, which stresses active, scientific problem solving for children 4 to 6 years old. A variety of assessment, observation, recording and reporting tools are suggested, implemented and critiqued. Creation of a portfolio to store and showcase these items is suggested and explained. The important role of parents and families in the assessment process is studied. Strategies for involving parents at all stages of implementation are included and field tested. The result is a unique, lively, complete look at the teacher's efforts to use authentic assessment strategies which honestly match the curriculum unfolding in the classroom.

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This thesis examines the potential for pre-service teacher training of video portfolios of elementary students doing school tasks. Study 1 investigates pre-service teachers' use of such records to assess student progress. Ten undergraduate education students each viewed two video portfolios, one for mathematics and one for reading. Each portfolio consisted of four video records. Participants watched the four records in an incorrect order and attempted to put them in their original order. Their orders by-and-large were correct. Most ordered the records according to task characteristics and provided detail interpretations and justifications for their ordering. Since the usefulness of video portfolios in teacher training rests on their ability to highlight characteristics of student learning, Study 2 further analyzes eleven mathematics video records selected from Study 1 to investigate whether the task condition constructed in the adult-student interaction allows sufficient presentations of student achievement. Potential threats in task administrator's instructional behaviors to video quality were discussed.

This research project aims to establish the predictive validity of a set of aptitude tests for the first year Biosciences programme at a merging South African University. The study aims to address the problem of selection and placement to higher education and also to suggest how the results of aptitude tests might be used to inform curriculum development at first year level. The Differential Aptitude Test (DAT-L) was conducted on the 2004 Biosciences student cohort (228 students). The instructions that were given to the students followed the instructions laid out in Owen and Vosloo (1999). Normally there are ten tests in this battery of tests, however only eight of the tests were given to the students. The tests included; Vocabulary, Verbal reasoning, Non-Verbal reasoning: Figures, Calculations, Reading Comprehension, Comparisons, Price Controlling and Memory. Exam results of the participating students were collected. These included; Final Biosciences101 mark, Class mark (Biosciences101), Practical exam mark (Biosciences101) and Theory exam mark (Biosciences101). The final marks for Physics (mixed modules), Mathematics (mixed modules) Computer Sciences (CSCI 103) and Chemistry (CHEM131) were also collected. The indicator for the concept of academic potential in the Biosciences was taken as the marks achieved during the course of the first semester. Biographical information from the Student Management System (SMS) was also recorded this included; Race, Gender, Home language and Matric points. These various categories were compared against the students' performance in DAT-L tests. The average for the stanine points for a student of university "quality' is seven, according to Owen et al. (2000), while the average of this cohort of students is 5.16. The correlation for the different DAT tests when compared with the final result for Biosciences shows that the best correlation is with test 1 at r = .47292 (Vocabulary) while the worst correlation is with test 6 at r=.24722 (Comparison). The sequence of correlation is from Vocabulary through Reading Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Calculation, Memory, Price Controlling, Non-Verbal Reasoning: Figures, and finally Comparisons. The correlation of the average of all tests and the final result is a reasonable r = .50396. The best correlation with DAT and other subjects is Computer Science with r = .41165, with a declining correlation between Physics and the mark of r = .34085 followed by extremely poor correlations for Chemistry and Mathematics of r = .20313 and r = .08700 respectively. The best correlation that was obtained during this research was with the correlation between matric points and the average of all the DAT tests. While the correlation with DAT and the Final mark for Biosciences is r = .50396 that for the matric points is r = .57150. Females attained a significantly higher average on the DAT tests but the difference between female and male on their final results in Biosciences is not significant. White students perform significantly better than the other race designations when it comes to the final result. Within the categories African, Indian and Coloured there is no significant difference. When it comes to the different DAT tests, Africans perform significantly worse than the other three groupings and the Indian grouping did significantly worse when compared to Whites. If we were to use the DAT as a means of selecting students it would be fairly effective for biology but not for the other basic science subjects. The fact that the test would have to be administered to all applicants applying to do first year in the Science and Agriculture Faculty makes the choice of this set of tests questionable. Should the Faculty require a means of determining election into biological subjects then the tests show great promise. The pursuit of greater fairness, validity and reliability in selection is an ongoing quest. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Performance of individual students in a course at a tertiary institution is usually reflected in a final mark that determines their progress and transfer to higher courses. Performance of students in a first year course, Bioscience at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (UNP) was examined to determine if there were any patterns emerging in differential performance between students, particularly the performance of subgroups within the class. Of particular interest were English second language (ESL) students, and previous Science Foundation Programme (SFP) students. The latter are mainly previously disadvantaged Black students. Performance ofstudents was compared in Bioscience 110 for the years 1995-2000 using Repeated Measures ANOVA. All subgroups of students showed similar trends in performance in Bioscience assessment tasks and final marks. However, the SFP students ' final marks were lower than the other subgroups, and showed a decreased performance for the same period. Most students, excluding SFP students, fell in the 50-59% category for the final Bioscience 110 marks obtained for the period 1995-2000. There was no correlation between students' SFP final mark and their final mark in Bioscience 110. The final Bioscience 110 mark is a combination of a class mark, practical examination and a theory examination and performance in these was investigated and compared to determine any patterns. Students performed best in class marks. All students performed poorly in the theory examinations. Theory examinations were investigated further, and were analysed in their component parts, namely multiple choice (MCQ), short questions and essay. Students performed best and consistently in MCQ. In contrast, students performed poorly in the short question and essay sections. Although the different ethnic subgroupings showed similar trends in performance, the SFP students showed the poorest performance. In particular, they scored lowest in the theory examinations where they performed more poorly than the other subgroupings in short questions and essays that require higher order cognitive skills. As SFP students are the main source of Black students who enrol for Bioscience at UNP, the performance of these students in their SFP Biology was assessed across years (1995-2000). Assessment marks were analysed to determine if they showed trends in the mastery of the skills and knowledge tested. Given the trends found by the study, there needs to be ongoing curriculum development in both courses examined. In particular, the types of teaching and the assessment used to award a final grade need to be examined. For example, the contribution ofessay writing, how it is taught and assessed needs to be monitored. The quality of test questions and writing assignments needs to be examined as part of course design and development. In addition, development of higher order thinking skills and the levels of these need to be examined at both SFP Biology and Bioscience levels. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002. / National Research Foundation.

A combined longitudinal and retrospective multiple-case study followed all students from their initial identification for a gifted and talented (g/t) program at the end of 3rd grade to the present. The purpose of the study was to determine the long-term effects of a three-year, self-contained program for students who were identified by the local school district as gifted and talented based on an identification procedure approved by the State Department of Education. The population consisted of 109 students from eleven elementary schools who were formally identified for a full-time, self-contained gifted class for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. The gifted classes were offered at two sites in the midwestern school district. Archival data and a questionnaire were used to collect data.A variety of statistical treatments were used to analyze the quantitative data available. Scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, California Achievement Test, ISTEP Test and SAT, along with GPA and class ranking, provided achievement data from the school records. Qualitative data were generated from a follow-up questionnaire.The findings indicate that students who participated in the program perceive it as having long-term positive effects. Students in the experimental group showed significant differences from the control group on all measures of achievement. Students in the experimental group chose majors and career goals in the math and science areas almost twice as often as students in the control group. Students in the control group were significantly different from the experimental group in initial verbal ability indicating possible socio-economic differences between the groups. This was reinforced in student responses for reasons why they chose not to participate in the g/t program. A significant number of experimental group responses reported feelings of isolation during program years. A statistically significant difference in lower math scores for girls was substantiated in quantitative measures on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at the 3rd grade level and on the SAT. / Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Clinical, Psychology) / The aim of this study was to develop a selection model for students who are to be trained as Clinical Psychologists at the Masters degree level. Since selection criteria are both subjective and objective and the procedure itself time consuming, the model would have to incorporate these aspects and also save time. For these reasons the possibility of utilizing a single assessment instrument, the 16PF, was investigated. The experimental design compared two methods of selection. These were (i) the traditional method involving interpersonal contact between selectors and candidates and (ii) a statistical method involving the 16PF. were tested. Three hypotheses i That the 16PF would discriminate significantly between selected and selected students. ii That a pattern of objective criteria would emerge. iii That some subjective criteria would be identified. All three hypotheses were subsequently confirmed. Recommendations for the future utilization of the model are made.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The Rand Afrikaans University College for the promotion of Learning and Leadership (RAUCALL) was founded to address a specific educational need in the Republic of South Africa. Many children with academic and leadership potential from the less fortunate communities are never given the opportunity for tertiary education once they leave school. RAUCALL provides secondary school children with an opportunity that prepares them academically and develops their leadership qualities in order to ready them for tertiary studies. The College caters for children from disadvantaged communities who manifest academic and leadership potential and the primary aim is to identify these candidates who are most likely to fulfil these requirements. Initially, in the selection process many problems were experiencedand it became clear that possible candidates were not being identified. Improvement of the selection processes and procedures became necessary to target the group which would benefit most from the enriched education RAUCALL provides. The study focussed on three main areas. A literature study provided a background on the problems that could be experienced when selection takes place in a multicultural setting. Secondly an analysis was made of the RAUCALL selection procedures followed during 1992 and 1993. Thereafter a Human Resources selection model was described in order to make a comparison between the two models. This procedure provided an indication of where specific problems existed in the RAUCALL model. Improved selection procedures were described in chapter 4. The improved selection procedures were based on the Human Resources selection model. This model provided the framework for the proposed selection guidelines for RAUCALL students. Suggestions were made to improve the recruitment procedures with the object of targeting a wider group of potential candidates.

Programming lecturers are faced with logistical problems associated with evaluating students’ assignments. This dissertation will discuss the problems associated with paper- and electronic-based submission and evaluation systems. Managing student assignments is thus an important issue and this dissertation investigates how the computer can be used to help in both the management of programming assignments and giving of feedback for those assignments. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies offer a technical solution for the submission of assignments. CMC technologies are therefore studied and their use in the educational sphere discussed. Information Security is another important feature that is needed when using CMC for assignment management. A guideline showing the different features that an assignment management and feedback system would need was developed. Current systems that offer some assignment management features were studied and evaluated according to the guideline. A model was developed for the management of programming assignments. The model addresses the problems of paper-based and previous electronic submission systems and includes the assessment of the assignments. The viability of the model was determined by building and testing a prototype based on the model’s specifications. The prototype was evaluated within a second year Visual Basic programming class. The evaluation determined that there were areas that needed improvement, however the feedback was generally positive.